Rearing poultry, chicken, geese and ducks, either by using intensive farming techniques or through free farming, is categorised in to poultry farming. This technique of animal husbandry is a primary source for commercialising their meat and eggs for food. Poultry farming is more often a procedure with hens, which are reared for their eggs and slaughtered at the end of twelve months when their productivity begins to decline. Intensive farming is a commercially followed technique where the poultry is raised in controlled environment for yielding better results. They are housed in battery cages, where the temperature is maintained to match with the warmer daylights all through the day and year. Under these conditions the hens hatch all year round normal against their tendency to lay eggs only in the warmer climates. The broilers are raised on wood shavings or hull in an indoor environment. Extensive care with nationally approved antibiotics, food specifications and water is supplied to the poultry. Another technique is the natural free range farming and yarding. In either case the birds are allowed to grow in natural large area farms, but commercially this procedure is a loss which pertains to the less production of eggs and meat as the conditions do not suit year long hatching.
Ethics of Poultry Farming
Intensive farming is a highly controversial method of domestication as it is a concern of both an inhumane act and environmental hazard. Slaughtering of the poultry for their meat and forced selective breeding to create large breasts are considered act of cruelty. Proliferation of diseases like salmonella and E.coli due to the closed, unsanitary battery cages causes welfare concerns. De-beaking without anaesthesia to prevent pecking other birds and their feathers is another common practise. Growth hormones and antibiotics administered to the poultry for better yields contain certain environmental hazard elements like Arsenic. When undercooked a few birds are said to retain certain antibiotics.
